But, the original intent of creating black-and-white images was still out there. (BTW, it's interesting to note that half of the participants in the journey did create black-and-white or sepia-toned photographs during the journey; though all of their original digital files were color.) So, I've been working with a half dozen of my favorite Hilo-area photos over the past week to see what works in black-and-white or another technique that I called "faded color." The latter tones down the color saturation (by color channel) and keeps a modicum of the principal color(s) while making the rest of the photo black-and-white.
Bamboo with such a touch of the yellow-orange stocks and a very light touch of green leaves.
A morning sunrise over the ever-present clouds from the local beach. It was dramatic enough to survive a full desaturation.
A canopied-roadway where I toned down the brilliant green leaves, and the fallen brown leaves, and then added a bit of blur (actually de-clarified the image in Lightroom) for a more mystical feeling.
More bamboo trees, emphasizing their verticality yet keeping just a touch of the yellow-green leaves.
A grave marker that went from a brilliant color splash of the flower to a pure geometric image when converted to black-and-white.
Finally, my favorite photo from the entire trip, where the small statue had been soft but rough grey-green but now appears from out of the surrounding darkness with the crystal beads still shining.
In case you're curious about the original color photographs, well, here they are. I purposely didn't line them up for comparison sake, since I enjoy both versions. But I also wanted to be true to my original intent - emphasizing graphic images, not necessarily color. And I think I've been able to achieve that - while still creating great color photos as well!
Mahalo!
